The Philadelphia 76ers need to begin with their plan and pitch to prospective free agents this offseason. Here’s what it might look like.
This upcoming offseason is an important one for the Philadelphia 76ers. They have a potential four first-round draft picks to bring in some huge pieces for their future. That’s being looked at as a huge part of the rebuild, and it should be.
Perhaps more important this offseason though, is free agency. The rebuild has been all drafting so far, but this year, free agency and landing some free agents is finally a reality for the Sixers in their Hinkie era.
The Sixers have a lot of cash that they can spend, and although this year’s free agent market isn’t a huge one, it still offers options for any team looking to grab a couple of new faces. Kevin Durant and LeBron James are both free agents but stretches for the Sixers. DeMar DeRozan, Bradley Beal, Mike Conley, and Harrison Barnes are all free agents I’d like to see the Sixers at least take a shot at.
Before you bring in free agents to meet with the men making the deals, though, you have to have a solid pitch for them. Why should they join your team? That’s even more important for the Sixers. Why should anyone want to join a team who has implemented a losing culture in their franchise for three straight years? Why would anyone want to be a Sixer right now?
There’s actually more reason to want to be a Sixer right now than most people realize.
Next: The City
The City
There’s lots of jokes about how Philadelphia is a not-so-great place, but really, it’s one of the best cities in the entire United States of America. There is so much culture in the city, so many different people from different walks of life that often come together for the sports teams. There is a strong night life presence, and endless amounts of restaurants to try. It’s pretty hard to get bored living in Philadelphia.
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It’s no Los Angeles or Miami as far as being a really attractive place to live, but Philly is the fourth largest market in the country, and offers a lot of exposure for any free agent or player coming to play there. In these days of social media, that doesn’t matter a whole lot — look at how popular Karl-Anthony Towns is in Minnesota — but it’s still of some importance.
Philly is the closest NBA team within four hours of a lot of people. That includes a large part of Pennsylvania — thanks to the fact that Pittsburgh is without a pro basketball team — as well as many parts of upstate New York.
Over the years, so many great pro basketball players have suited up to play for the Philadelphia 76ers. Having your name as an influential player in Philly’s basketball history alongside the likes of Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins, and Allen Iverson, (and much, much more) is truly a privilege.
Next: The Roster
The Roster
Okay, no, this isn’t a joke. Yes, the Sixers can use the roster as a selling point to free agencies. This year’s roster? Of course not. We’ve seen this year’s roster fail to work. Players that start games for the Sixers like T.J. McConnell and Carl Landry might not even see 5 minutes of action on any other NBA team. But the roster that’s going to start becoming a reality this upcoming season is one that should excite a player looking for a new team.
Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel have already proven they are bound to be stars in this league. Robert Covington, Nik Stauskas, and Jerami Grant are all shaping up to be solid role players in the NBA. The Sixers have Joel Embiid and Dario Saric who are also bound to be here next season as well, making the future of the team very bright based on the roster before any free agents are brought in.
The Sixers, by the time they will be pitching to free agents, will also know the order in which they will be placed in the upcoming NBA Draft, and can use that to their advantage. They could potentially be picking a star like Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram, and any smart free agent that’s been in the league for a few years should jump on the opportunity to work with them and help them develop into full NBA players.
The roster this year is not the one the Sixers will pitch. Instead, they will show players how close they are to adding huge pieces like Joel Embiid — who is far along in his rehabilitation — and Dario Saric.
Next: The Sixers Care
The Sixers Care
In the past, especially since this rebuilding process has started, there has been a concern among players and players’ agents about players getting treated poorly by the Sixers. They are often offered team-friendly contracts and deals, and then some of them are even traded away without a blink of the eye, as if they never served any purpose to the team.
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The general consensus is that Sam Hinkie doesn’t care about players. Although I’m in no position to judge the character of Hinkie, I can go ahead and say that he may not care about players as much as he should. That all comes down to the fact that throughout his entire career as an executive he has implemented statistic-driven ways of building rosters. This often takes away from looking at players as players. Instead, they really become numbers.
Hinkie implemented an analytics-driven mindset to building the Houston Rockets when he was with them, and that still stands today.
There’s two things to note here. First of all, Hinkie has offered a ton of team-friendly contracts to players because there haven’t been very many players worth offering player-friendly contracts to. Moving forward, Hinkie is going to have more opportunities to sign players who are worth money, and I think we’ll see him spend a lot more money moving forward.
Also, the Sixers are going to be much more attractive because of Jerry Colangelo, who was brought in as the team’s Vice President of Basketball Operations earlier this season. Colangelo has a lot of good connections around the league, and those connections involve player agents.
Colangelo, at 76 years old, has been involved in the NBA for a very long time, and knows a lot of people because of that. Additionally, he has a classic approach to the rebuild that may offset some reservations players or player agents might have about the all-analytics approach Hinkie has.
We can expect that Colangelo will help the Sixers and his connections will allow them to sell the fact that they care about players.
Next: The Practice Facility
The Practice Facility
The Philadelphia 76ers may have one of the best practice facilities for basketball in all of America once their newest one in Camden, New Jersey is complete. Being built alongside the Sixers’ franchise, it will stand as a metaphor for what is being accomplished with the building of this team.
The complex will be 125,000 square feet, which is the largest training facility in the NBA. The Sixers are taking advantage of that space with two full-size NBA courts, a locker room, and hydrotherapy rooms for wellness and recovery, according to the Sixers website.
It’s supposed to be a facility that is accessible 24/7 to players and the front office, with a balcony, restaurant, and film room. It gives each player the opportunity to always be improving their game. We’ve heard reports of guys like Kristaps Porzingis not wanting to ever leave the Knicks training facility, and with the Sixers one, players seriously wouldn’t have to leave if they didn’t want to.
This goes perfectly with the advancements the team is making in sports medicine, hiring some of the biggest name doctors to help keep their team in tip-top shape. Really, it sounds like it’s going to be more like a resort than a training facility.
It’s more like a soccer club training facility than an NBA one, and that could seriously help the Sixers players get so much further along in their game than they can anywhere else.
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It’s a destination that players around the league will envy, and of course, want to have access to. To get access, they can sign with the Sixers. The practice facility is the strongest of all the selling points to potential free agents.